Fate's Emblem
by maximorph1
Summary: Retrospectively, it was probably a bad idea to attempt to destroy an almost fully formed corrupt Grail with the most famous Holy Blade in the history of man that had been implanted into an inferior vessel after the original vessel was destroyed. Now Shirou, Saber, and Rin will have to deal with plotting tyrants, Dead Apostles, an army of Homunculi, and trying to find home.


**Fate's Emblem**

Chapter 1

_Meeting on the Plains_

In theory there are infinite possibilities for every moment that has and can exist. Infinite consequences made by infinite numbers of choices that form from infinite ways the pattern of time flows. Thus, if this theory has any validity, means that it is quite possible that everything ever thought of, whether in stories, games, or random ideas has occurred in some way or will occur in some way in one of those realities. Accordingly, everything from the most popular epics to the worst written stories in every world can and do occur in some way all the time.

With infinite possibilities, it is theoretically possible that anything ever conceived in any person's mind occurred, including things like Mary Sues, Lovecraft Lore, or simple alterations of the tales people have heard a billion times over.

Alterations like say... King Arthur being female. Crazy? Impossible? Not if one takes into account what was just said about infinite possibilities. All it takes is one chromosome changing and possibly a bit of deception about gender and the tale can stay the same without anyone knowing better.

So if one alteration of a well known tale is possible, then it is more than plausible that even more alterations can occur to said tale. It is possible then that this female version of King Arthur would, just as her life was ending and she stared at the ruins of her once glorious country, make an offer to any power listening, existing or not. Said offer could consist of her soul in exchange for the chance to do things over, to have the Sword in the Stone test redone so someone better than her could do what she failed to do.

Such an achievement may not possible by any individual in her world... but there might be an object, a legendary object that could grant any wish to the one able to claim it, The Holy Grail. Now, this is not the Cup of Christ, that cup vanished from history and will probably never reemerge for better or worse. The Holy Grail is a moniker for an all powerful object that grants miracles. Hundreds of 'supposed' said objects were found, created, and subsequently put to the test, almost always failing, but every now and then one comes around that does have the power to grant a miracle.

By her oath and promise, King Arthur, whose true name was Arturia Pendragon, was placed into a great sleep, neither dead nor alive. Until she obtained the Grail for her foolish wish, she would be frozen in time while a spiritual copy of herself would appear wherever a Grail would form and attempt to obtain the object. It is impossible to tell how many times she appeared and failed to obtain the Grail. Many times she came close, many times she nearly had the grail in her grasp, only for it to slip through her fingers at each event. Time and time again she failed, and time and time again she attempted anew on obtaining the Grail to grant her wish never realizing the foolishness her wish to undo her life's work truly was.

After who knows how many failures, she was summoned anew into a strange city on the other side of the world from her home country. In Fuyuki Japan, she was summoned under the title Saber, one of the Seven Servant classifications for the ritual. What she didn't realize was that this ritual was actually supposed to be a honey trap for beings like herself. Originally, Heaven's Feel was never meant to have a Servant live. When the other six opponent astral beings known as Servants were destroyed, the summoner, known under the title of Master, of the final servant would use one of his three Command Seals to given an order that forced the Servant to take their own life to completely fill the Grail and complete the ritual.

For some strange reason, the first time the Ritual had been enacted over two hundred years prior to Saber's summoning, the Grail never manifested, hence, Saber never appeared before the Grail since it would not arrive for her to gain her wish. The Second and Third attempts of this ritual, known as Heaven's Feel, also failed to manifest the Grail for one reason or another. So, it should be considered a bit of a surprise that fourth times' the charm and the Grail would manifest. Thus, since the Grail was going to appear, Arturia found herself being summoned once more to attempt to obtain it.

It should be restated that this ritual was never meant for the summoned ones ever obtaining the Grail. All seven of these Servants were meant to be sacrificed. The first six would die in combat, betrayal, or sabotage, and then the lone survivor (if there was one instead of Mutually Assured Destruction occurring) would be betrayed by their own Master, had he or she lived as well, to fill the Grail. That was the original intent.

Unfortunately, during the Third Heaven's Feel Ritual, one war prior to the one Arturia was summoned into, something went wrong. The Einzbern, one of the three founding families for the Heaven's Feel ritual, decided they had a bright idea. After failing for so long to obtain their wish, they decided to cheat the system, as most magi did when they were frustrated with losing repetitively. They changed one of the known classes of Servants, known as Berserker, for the war into a new class called Avenger.

Now, that in of itself that might not have been the brightest idea, messing with a ritual that was already showing bad results twice before by altering it radically. What truly took the cake for stupidity, however, was what they summoned. Rather than summon a hero from a bygone era, the Einzbern tried to summon a God. Granted, the one they summoned wasn't actually, a god. He was just an innocent victim that had been chosen by his people to be the embodiment of all the evils of the world, tortured every minute everyday for decades while being branded, cursed, and condemned. The collective will of his people changed him, their faith turned him into something so similar to a God that it is impossible to tell the difference.

In essence, they turned him into a living wish: the wish for him to contain and be the embodiment of all the evils of the world.

Faith is a powerful thing, neither good nor evil in of itself, but Faith for the wrong reasons can change the world, and thus Angra Mainyu was born.

So, back to the Einzbern. Sick and tired of losing, exhausted from spending nearly a thousand years attempting to restore a magic lost to them, of which only a quarter of the time had been with this Heaven's Feel ritual while the rest had been done independently, they decided that to win in this Heaven's Feel they needed to summon a God. But not just any God, no, they decided that summoning the Original Devil, Angra Mainyu, was the BEST IDEA EVER! Because summoning a God that curses everything he touches is a brilliant idea when attempting to create an object that can grant any wish the victor can conceive of.

It might be considered lucky in some respects that Angra Mainyu was the first one killed in the Third Grail War. However, rather than a living God of Evil's power being free in the world upon his destruction, instead, his essence was put into the Grail in preparation for the finale of Heaven's Feel. Recall however, that Angra Mainyu is a God of Evil, all that he touches is cursed, and now had his essence poured into the Grail. The Holy Grail, the object originally supposed to grant any miracle, was now an object that could only grant miracles though suffering and destruction. Think of the tale of the Monkey's Paw, only there is only one wish available and said wish would be granted with much more suffering and death, with nearly infinite power to back it up for good measure. For example, the entire human race going extinct in scale of suffering and death if the winner say, wished for a cup of water.

Good job Team Einzbern.

However, this occurred in the Third Grail War in which the Grail failed to manifest for one reason or another, much to the betterment of the world. The problem was that no one noticed that there was anything wrong. Sixty years later, it was time for the Fourth Grail War to begin with no one the wise about the fatal flaw about the 'Holy' Grail, emphasis on the word 'fatal'. Saber fought under a man named Emiya Kiritsugu, a quiet man who spoke few words to the legendary king and had no sense of pride when it came to completing his objectives.

On the whole, it was a miserable summoning for Arturia, who was now going under the title of Saber. Kiritsugu refused to allow Saber to search for Caster when he kept kidnapping and killing children for his enjoyment as well as using them as sacrifices to summon demons. Next, Kiritsugu trampled on her honor by having the Master of Lancer force his Servant to commit suicide to spare the wife of the enemy Master. Yet, just as soon as the wife was returned, Kiritsugu had the pair of them shot to ensure that there were no loose ends. Worse yet, just as Saber was facing the last enemy Servant Kiritsugu used his command seals to force her to destroy the Grail.

Granted, Kiritsugu did this because he had found out the true nature of the corrupt Grail and what it would do, but there wasn't time to inform Saber in the crucial moments as the Grail was preparing to unleash its power. Even in its barely awakened state, the Grail decimated the human population within an area of around a quarter a mile killing everyone within range.

Everyone, save for one.

Fast forward ten years later and the Fifth Grail War began the cycle anew. Servants were summoned, Arturia summoned under the title of Saber once more, only this time she was summoned by a certain person, the lone survivor of the inferno form the previous war. Once again battles, betrayal, and intrigue were abound in this war.

Let's go back to the infinite possibilities discussed at the beginning of the chapter. This war, the Fifth Heaven's Feel has infinite ways of playing out, but it generally tends to follow one of three main, well used pathways with some possible intermixing of the three paths. Considering it is rare for said war to go on for more than a month at most, it's not surprising that many common features are found in the three paths.

Generally, the three paths are primarily decided by the actions of that lone survivor from the previous war, Emiya Shirou. Depending on what he does before the war and just as he begins the war, the paths diverge. On one path, the boy goes along like a blockhead, ignoring the rather beautiful girl who has all but lived with him for a year that is secretly suffering a horror no human should ever endure and just as the war starts. He summons Arturia, and ends up gawking in a bit of shock as his Servant cleaved a certain Servant in red.

The second route starts almost the same way, except that he calls out just before Arturia tears a new one into her opponent in red, halting the attack.

The third and final route is the boy actually finds an attraction to the suffering girl and ends up for one reason or another actually getting around to saving the girl from her nightmare.

Of these three Routes, there tends to be five endings where the situation resolves itself peacefully if the boy somehow against all odds 'wins' the War.

Of the First Route mentioned, the end is fairly certain that the boy and Arturia will stand on a hill victorious and confess their feelings to each other before she fades away, content with her life and finally able to give up her foolish wish and pass on with a smile, content with the life she lived and proud of the deeds she had done. A bit sad that she could not stay with Shirou in the end, but anyone who thinks life and love cannot transcend death is a fool. Even if two souls must take eternity itself to find one another again, they will find each other anyways.

In the Second Route, two possibilities tend to occur. In the first instance, Arturia destroys the Grail, vanishes, and the boy and the Master of the Red Servant, Rin, go off together to have other (mis)adventures, usually, but not always on a lesser scale than the Grail War. In the second common possibility, Saber destroys the Grail, but keeps herself from vanishing long enough for Rin to reestablish a contract and maintain Arturia's form. The pair would then meet up with Shirou and together the three of them would live on to have either more adventures or just have simple lives to lead.

In the final Route things went along a more FUBAR route ending with Arturia dead at the hands of Shirou (usually) no matter the course. This Route typically ends one of two ways, Shirou dies dragging a fallen priest with him while saving the world from evil, or Shirou lives through the sacrifice of his little sister and lives with two of the former enemy Masters and a former enemy Servant who have all fallen for him and the boy goes on to live a, relatively, normal life, controlling an overly humanized puppet body via his disembodied soul.

This is not set in stone of course. Though these may be the three major routes time passes, there are infinite variables that occur. In some possibilities, Fuyuki is destroyed by a nuclear war that was set off for one reason or another. In others, Shirou's father somehow gains visions of the future and does his best to ensure his son lives, altering the Routes along paths and possibly accidentally turning his son into a vampire in the process. Again, infinite paths from the infinite choices and consequences formed along the timelines, there just tends to be some paths more often traveled than others.

One path rarely traveled takes place under the Second Route. Right up until the final hours, events occur unchanged as so many others have. Saber faces against Assassin, kills him, and faces the corrupt Grail while Rin tries to save Shinji form being turned into the Grail while Shirou was able to finish off Gilgamesh. What changed this course from the others came in two minor, yet far reaching consequences.

The first change that occurred was that Rin took longer than normal to find Shinji and drag his half dead carcass out of the corrupted Grail. Not all the surprising really as Rin had to navigate a maze of cursed puss infused flesh to find the boy half consumed by the corrupted vessel he was becoming. In of itself, this delay might not have been an issue. The thing was, it was met with one other change, Shirou killed off Gilgamesh (with a last minute save from Archer) just a little earlier than was the standard.

The Grail, already nearly full from having the essence of five Servants was finally filled with the essence of Gilgamesh, whose ego, power and existence was so great that he actually counted as two servants. By the time Rin was clear of the Grail with Shinji, the Grail was nearly finished forming a great black tower. Rin was so late getting out, in fact, that Shirou was already running towards her to get the two of them out of the way. Once they were clear, Saber raised her golden sword at the rising tower of corrupted flesh spewing black mud. With a mighty swing of her sword, Saber unleashed the might of her Noble Phantasm, Excalibur, at the Grail in an attempt to destroy it.

Retrospectively, it was probably a bad idea to attempt to destroy an almost fully formed corrupt Grail with the most famous Holy Blade in the history of man that had been implanted into an inferior vessel after the original vessel was destroyed. See, the Grail is sentient. And, like all sentient creatures, it has a will of its own. Now imagine a being with the power to grant any wish whatsoever at the cost of great destruction/genocide. Now imagine said being that is almost fully manifested coming under attack by something that is an anathema to it. Like all sentient creatures, the Grail has a will to survive of sorts, even if it is a bit alien for humans to fully comprehend.

So what is a being with the power to pull off any miracle going to do when it comes under attack? Simple, it fights back.

Once more, the infinite pathways branch out from this moment. In countless timelines, the Grail unleashes a wave of death upon the survivors. In other times, it attempts to consume them and absorb them. None of these branches are all that interesting (usually), to say the least, as the results tend to be rather boring (from a cynical observer's perspective) as the conclusion is already played out. However, because there are infinite possibilities, there come results that could not be foreseen until they played out.

Such as the Grail getting rid of that which was trying to kill it by sending the problems away. Far away. Alternate Universe level of Far Away. Hey, it has the power to grant ANY miracle, including accomplishing one of the five true Magics in the world, thus anything is possible.

Anything, by definition, could also include the use of another of the five true Magics, the Kaleidoscope, the power to travel to alternate dimensions.

What happens to Shirou, Rin, Saber, and Shinji is always different, but what always happens back on earth is always the same. There is a reason why Archer would not, could not die at the end of this route, even when he ran out of Prana, even when he ran out of time without a Master to serve as an anchor, even when his body was pierced by dozens of blades courtesy of Gilgamesh. See, Archer is a Counter Guardian, a being whose very soul is contracted to be ready at all times to face that which will cause the extermination of mankind. No matter how the Grail tries to eliminate mankind, Archer will be ready and waiting with the full backing of ALAYA to eliminate the Grail if Saber and the others fail to do so themselves.

That said, Counter Guardians aren't the tidiest folk when it comes to preservation of the local populace once evoked. Usually the entire country of Japan sinks to the sea, or at least Fuyuki is wiped off the map or some such occurs if the Grail works its 'Miracles' before Archer could contain the damage.

As it is, however, this matters little to not at all for Saber and the others at this point as they will probably never return to their world ever again.

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In another world altogether, a lone traveler fell to the ground dying of thirst. The fool of a man hadn't thought that the plains of Sacae could be so dangerous. Who could have known that grasslands could be just as scarce with water as a desert? For two days now the man had been without a single drop of water, his horse long gone from a surprise attack from bandits that he barely got away from, and now he was alone on the ground dying of thirst.

As he closed his eyes, he prayed to Saint Elimine for help. Now, normally a certain girl with hair the color of grass would arrive and save the poor sap from death. Unfortunately for him, said savior was riding off in a different direction today. See, as he lay there dying, a strange light effect was occurring off in the distance. The girl that was supposed to be his savior ended up going in a different direction to investigate the phenomenon and would never meet the man and save his life. Thus, a certain tactician would remain forever unknown in the continent of Elibe. At least, in this time line.

Lyndis of the Lorca Tribe, known as Lyn to those who knew her... a total tally number of zero now thanks to the Taliver bandits annihilating her tribe. For a fifteen, going on sixteen year old girl, she was rather beautiful with her bright blue eyes and green hair wearing an outfit that was a cross between Mongolian and Japanese in origin, and a simple katana shaped sword on her hip. Before the Lorca tribe had been destroyed she had known little else besides happiness. Before the deaths of her family, Lyn would have gladly told anyone that she lived a good life.

Now they were gone. Now she could do naught but grieve for the fallen. Now she was alone. Alone with nothing but her regrets, her blade, and a lost purpose. For the moment, she had made it her duty to protect the small nomad clan that had moved through the area, but that was not enough for her to fill the void in her heart, to chase away the grief that threatened to overwhelm her still even after six months of loneliness.

She had just taken out her horse out on her latest patrol when she saw a strange light show appearing off on the distance. Curious and more than a little wary, Lyn changed her horse towards the lights and directed it forward. After a brief time of traveling, the lights vanished, though still off on the distance.

Though her irregular guide was gone, Lyn kept moving in the direction, suspecting that some magic caster was practicing or some such nonsense. A fool probably, as no sensible mage would be casting his magic recklessly in a place that had a chance to catch on fire and spread burning death many days rides out. Still, if it was a mage, it was probably fairly safe as almost all magic users were more scholarly than hostile and would listen to reason...

Unless it was a dark magic user.

Shaking off that grim thought, Lyn continued forward towards where the light show had gone off. It was possible that whoever had conjured the magic had buggered off already, but there was a chance that the caster was still there. If the latter was the case, she would give the thoughtless fool a piece of her mind about risking the safety of the plains by breaking one of the cardinal rules about living in Sacae.

Cresting over a small hill, however, Lyndis beheld a sight she hadn't been expecting. Four people were on the ground, two male, two female, one of each gender on the ground with the other hovering over them.

Curious, she watched as one male with red hair kissed the other male with blue hair lying on the ground... twice, before beating his chest multiple times before kissing him again before beating his chest once more. At the same time, a female in a strange red and brown outfit had cut her hand with a strange purple knife and was pouring her blood over the blond woman lying on the ground. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, her instincts warned her that she was in for something strange. She ignored that feeling and carefully rode down while watching the strange behavior.

A few minutes earlier...

Shirou, Rin, Saber, and Shinji had fallen for who knows how long in the darkness. The four of them had clung together as tight as possible through that long trip in the void. Well, more like Rin, Shirou, and Saber had held on while Shinji had been busy falling unconscious, stopping his lungs taking air and ceasing his heart beat. Minor inconvenient things anyone could do without... unless you wanted to live that is. The poor (but clearly deserving of his fate) boy had been used as a replacement vessel for the Grail's manifestation. The result had been Shinji suddenly developing the world's largest cancer, growing to the size of a great tower. With that much corruption running through his system, even after being pulled out of the flesh prison his body had become, it should be no surprise that his body was failing him.

Down and down they fell, in darkness before they saw light, sunlight. Also ground, green grass covered the earth as far as they could see, coming at them at a rather fast pace in face. Luckily, Saber is basically an epic spirit, a being a half step away from a Divine Spirit. Even traveling at such high speed, she was easily able to take the impact for the four of them without any sign of injury and perfectly protected them from the fall.

When they had landed on a field of grass none the worse for the wear, hell broke loose for the four of them. Shinji falling to the ground lifelessly was the first of the problems that assaulted them. Right after she hit the ground, Saber fell over like a limp rag doll as well. For a brief moment, there was panic in the two people still able to stand... before they both went to Saber's side.

The audience should be reminded that for the better part of the war, said unconscious and forgotten young man had spent a good deal of time trying to kill, rape, kidnap, and otherwise maim one or all members of the other party. So it should be obvious that when it comes to man-down situations, the jackass of a bastard gets second fiddle behind the loyal woman who fought, bled, and nearly died for her companions multiple times already.

"Saber!" Shirou called holding the blond woman in his arms. She was sweating badly and was incredibly pale, even when compared to her normal porcelain-like features.

"What's wrong?" Rin demanded before she figured it out. The Grail was destroyed, Saber had been successful, therefore she was no longer being supported by the Grail. The blonde king was going to vanish, to die essentially. Rin had known it was probably going to happen, but the emotional part of her still wasn't ready for her to leave. The rational part of her then pointed out that there was still a way for Saber to remain, it would cripple her as a magus, but it was possible.

"Shirou, deal with Shinji, I'll handle this." The Tohsaka ordered. Shirou, though confused, obeyed the girl who was clearly leagues ahead of him as a magus and turned to deal with the other casualty. A quick observation later and Shirou had found that the only other male in the area was neither breathing nor possessing a pulse. As stated previously, both things are rather important if someone wishes to live and all...

Thus, CPR, the only thing Shirou could fall back on with his lack of healing magic or a medical team. As an aspiring Hero, a boy who wanted to save lives, he had gone to a class on CPR during his middle school days when he was still woefully incompetent with his brand of thaumaturgy. Still, even as he worked, Shirou could only feel desperation while Shinji failed to recover from whatever it was that was killing him. Meanwhile, Rin was busy talking to Saber who was looking worse by the minute.

"Saber, I'm going to perform a ritual to bind you as my familiar." Rin explained as she pulled out her Azoth Dagger. The dagger, like her gems, was a trump card of hers, carefully being filled with extra prana for almost ten years. She would have no more parted from this blade than cut off her family's crest.

"But Rin that will hamper your ability as a magus." Saber protested weakly. Supporting her would be a great strain for the girl, possibly preventing her from using any magecraft at all.

"We're out in the middle of who knows where after facing the Grail," Rin retorted as she began cutting her arm and allowing blood to flow. "Like it or not Saber, we may still need you."

"... I understand, what do you need me to do?" Saber asked. In the back of her mind, the King of Knights was almost glad to have a reason to remain. Truthfully, Saber had wanted to watch Shirou grow and see if he would escape the fate of Archer. As it was, she now had firm, logical reasons to do her best to remain for the moment in addition to her personal wishes.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

When Lyn got fairly close to the four of them, she witnessed the two girls get up from the ground and head over to the two men. The two women placed their hands on the man and shook their heads, but it was obvious that the male was still trying to save his... lover? Lyn wasn't fully sure what the red head was trying to do, but it looked rather futile to her. The way the blue haired male laid, it looked clear to her that he wasn't breathing.

As she came close to them, Lyn noticed that, besides the blond woman who was wearing armor, the other three were wearing outfits unlike anything she had seen before. In particular, the girl in red and black had an outfit that looked almost scandalizing with the short skirt, but perhaps it was a riding outfit of sorts. The lack of any form of mount was putting that assumption on hold though. The red headed male was also wearing a strange outfit of a white tunic and blue pants of unusual fabric, but that was ignorable for the moment when one focused on the blood and rips on his clothes.

It was obvious that there had been combat of some sort. This caused the girl's teeth to clench as she recalled the destruction of her people. Considering she hadn't seen any form of weapon save that strange purple dagger on any of the four there, it was probable that they had just fled whoever it was that had attacked them.

She lightly urged her mount forward at a fast pace as she came upon the four strangers who all turned to face her as she was upon them. "Hello, are you okay?" Lyn asked them as pleasantly as she could.

"We need help," The red headed man called out as he indicated the man on the ground, "Have you a doctor or anything?" Lyn was taken a bit aback as she listened to his words. His accent was... strange with the Sacae tongue, but understandable. Sadly, she shook her head.

"I'm sorry, but the nearest doctor is days away." Lyn made no mention of the fact that the man on the ground was already dead. Saceans may not lie, but there was nothing wrong with not speaking about things best not mentioned. It would be too cruel to tell the poor man that his lover was not going to get better.

"Shirou, there's nothing we can do." The girl in red told the kneeling man in that same strange accent.

"You've done what you could Shirou," The blond woman added, "Focus on the living." As far as Lyn was concerned that was sound advice. The dead were dead, let them have their peace. Still, Lyn would not say such a thing to the distraught man, it would be far too unkind to say such things.

For a time, Shirou sat by Shinji's side, mourning another life he could not save before finally doing the last thing he could for the boy who had once been his friend, he closed Shinji's eyes. Watching this, Lyn gave a silent prayer to the four winds to watch over the soul on its final journey. When she finished her silent prayer she looked over at the three survivors and made her offer.

"I can take you back to my camp, I have a shovel I can loan out to help bury him."

The man nodded before giving his thanks, "Thank you, how far is it?"

"Not too far," Lyn replied, "We'll probably be there before lunch." She paused a moment as she heard the sound of someone's stomach growl. Apparently it was the blond one if that blush was anything to go by.

"If you don't mind, might it be possible for you tell us where we are?" The girl in red suddenly asked as she gazed over the plains. Not too surprising a request, the Plains can get an non-native the run around from the apparent lack of terrain landmarks, comes with the territory of living on a landscape dominated by grass and small hills.

"We're about five days ride east and a bit south of Bulgar." Lyn replied. Considering it was the largest city of Sacae and the nominal capital, that should have helped the three of them get their bearings. Instead, all she got was three sets of confused stares. "Bulgar, capital of Sacae." Lyn repeated, perhaps the three of them were still in a bit of shock after losing a companion.

...Nope, still getting the confused stares, now mixed in with worry and anxiety.

"Where the heck is Sacae?" The girl in red demanded.

Blinking, Lyn responded as honestly as any of her countrymen would have. "Eastern most country of the continent of Elibe, just north of Bern." The growing paleness of the three strangers was not a good indication if Lyn had anything to judge.

"Could you excuse us for a moment?" The girl in red asked.

"Of course." Lyn replied as she watched the girl grab Shirou and motion to the blond woman who all huddled up and began talking rapidly. Lyn was barely able to make out the conversation, but it was filled with strange words that she wasn't familiar with including 'Grail' and 'Kaleidoscope'. There seemed to be a bit of debate, but it appeared that the other two would follow the girl's lead. With that, the huddle broke and the three of them faced her.

It was the blond that spoke first, "Thank you for giving us time for discussion..." She tilted her head for a moment then said, "I apologize, may I ask what your name is?"

"Lyn, Lyn of the Lorca tribe." The green haired nomad responded.

"Well met Lyn, I am Saber." The blond introduced, "This is Rin and Shirou." She said pointing respectively to each person.

"Well met," Lyn nodded in reply before looking at the deceased man. "And this is?"

"Shinji Matou." Saber replied with more than a little disdain. Odd the way she talked as though she would rather not know the man.

"I see..." Lyn replied. "I am sorry for your loss," she spoke looking directly at Shirou who nodded slightly at that. It was awkward for a moment before she made an offer. "I have some tools that can be of use for his burial back at my tent." She reiterated her earlier offer. No one should be left out on the plains to rot and be few upon by the wild life. It was considered the greatest of insults amongst the clans for the dead to be left naked upon the plains of Sacae.

"You have our thanks." Saber replied. "Please, lead on."

It was a solemn march towards Lyn's camp, not that the nomad begrudged them of this. One of their own was dead for some reason and from the sound of it, the three survivors were more than a little lost at this point. Shinji was draped on the back of Lyn's horse with Lyn leading her nag on foot with the other three close behind her. When the sun was at its apex, Lyn was able to spot her tent and lead them forward.

When she found the shovel, it was Shirou who stepped forward, unsurprisingly, and took a hold of the tool. The lone surviving male then began digging slowly but steadily a grave for Shinji. It was slow going, the grass was deeply entrenched into the ground and was loath to remove itself. Even a shallow grave took hours to dig through from the thickness of the grass and the roots, but Shirou silently worked without complaint in the matter.

During this time, Lyn wanted to talk to Saber and Rin, but the two were clearly exhausted for one reason for another and barely made it into the tent before nodding off side by side. By the time Shirou finished digging and burying Shinji, the boy was exhausted to the point of almost passing out. Helpless to the needs of the body Shirou nearly collapsed over the new grave. Lyn had to help him to her tent before he too collapsed from exhaustion.

It was not the most stellar of first meetings in the history of humanity, but it was a prelude of great events about to occur.

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Shirou was the first to wake, his body long accumulated to waking early no matter how tired he was the previous night. Sitting up he found himself in an unfamiliar setting before he reminded himself that he was in Lyn's tent. "I see, yeah, I guess it was too much to hope it was a dream." He whispered. Yes, it was a bit cliché, but he had hoped that the traveling into an unfamiliar world was just a dream. Well, unfamiliar location or not, he was just going to make the best of it.

Quietly, so as to not wake the others He removed the blankets from his body and quietly made his way to the edge of the tent where his shoes were. Even if he was worlds away from his home, Shirou would still do his morning routine to the best of his ability. Though the dojo was not here, Shirou calmly went out into the plains and began his workout routine. Sit ups, pushups, crunches, all the basics to get his limbs awake. It was then that he altered his morning routine. Today he uttered two words.

"Trace On."

In his hands appeared two wooden swords in the shape of two other blades, blades that danced a special way in his mind. He began to practice,

It was so strange, in just the past two weeks of his life, his entire world had been thrown upside down. It had seemed all so peaceful back before he had known about the war. Yes, there had been "gas leaks" and a few people being stabbed to death, but by and large Shirou had been ignorant about what was about to occur in Fuyuki. Then he ended up getting stabbed in the heart by Lancer, actually dying from that attack. But Rin had saved him. A debt that Shirou would do his best to repay no matter that it might take a lifetime. Then he had ended up summoning Saber and Shirou's world would never be the same.

Servants, the Holy Grail War, Caster, Gilgamesh, so many things had come forth and destroyed the peaceful days of Shirou's life, but none were as life shattering as Archer. To meet a future version of himself, to witness such a twisted creature was befouling to Shirou. The man's presence had instantly caused Shirou to dislike him from the moment he had seen the man, even before he knew who Archer really was. Every word Archer had spoken had seemed like some sort of mockery to the boy, a barbed insult aimed at the would-be hero.

Then Archer had revealed his identity, revealed his hatred for his younger self and the twisting of the Servant's soul as a Counter Guardian. If ever there had been someone Shirou hated, it was the foul thing that was the Avatar of his Ideal gone wrong. For all that Shirou respected Archer's skill and prowess, the boy could not forgive Archer for abandoning the Ideal, to call the Ideal to save people as wrong.

It had come down to a fight, a duel of Ideals, a battle of wills against one another. They had fought, they had raged, and in the end, Shirou had won, defeating the fallen Ideal while still believing in the Ideal, no matter if it might lead to the same path of Archer. In the end, Archer had accepted the outcome, had even given a small smile at the end of the battle.

What Shirou hadn't realized at the time, and had taken Saber to notice, was that Shirou had been gaining something from his time near Archer. Since the two of them had come from the same soul, a strange phenomenon occurred. The best way to describe it would be a melding, a resonance of souls. The skills of Archer had been bleeding out to Shirou, advancing the boy's skills by years, perhaps decades over their time together, unwilling it may have been. Thanks to Archer, Shirou had developed a sword style that could only be described as 'Insane', a suicidal sword technique that relied on exposing fatal openings to the enemy as bait in an elaborate trap.

In addition to a sword style, Archer had unknowingly passed on something else, a power to alter reality itself in a way. Through that ability, Shirou was now able to create copies of any sword, or sword like weapon that he witnessed, able to copy the innate abilities possessed by the swords. In a war of beings who wielded blades with such legendary powers, Shirou had been given a chance to face the King of Heroes, the First King of Man, Gilgamesh, and win.

For the moment though, he knew he was only copying Archer's abilities, pale imitations of the sheer power and ability that Archer had wielded in the war. Still, the boy had been given a great boost in his abilities, and he had been proven that it was possible to get as far as Archer had been. Just knowing that something is possible and being given a few tips, willingly passes along or not, was sure to drive the boy forward to match, if not exceed Archer's power some day.

Well, if he didn't die first, which was an unfortunate, but likely outcome for a man that placed no value on his own life when placed against the life of another, even a complete stranger.

For a while Shirou continued practicing skills that were not his, yet his at the same time. His blades moved in patterns that replied on showing openings then countering anything that tried to take advantage of said openings. Again and again he moved through those intricate, yet dangerous sequences that only a madman should ever attempt to perform until he finally felt as though he had done enough for the morning. It was probably another side effect from the bleed over from Archer. Exhaling once more, releasing the tension built from the practice, he opened his eyes.

... Apparently he had built a small audience while practicing and hadn't noticed.

Standing off to the side, both Saber and Lyn had watched Shirou for an indeterminate amount of time. What he found in their eyes, however, were two different things. Lyn looked on with what seemed like praise while Saber was clearly looking on with concern. Not surprising really, after all, she had witnessed Shirou and his future self trying to kill each other only a few days ago. To Saber, it was probable that she was watching that sword style and worrying that Shirou would end up walking the path Archer fell into.

"You have a beautiful swordstyle" Lyn complimented. To her eyes it had appeared to be a style of resilience, one that focused more on defense than offense. To her inexperienced eyes, it had appeared like an elegant dance of blades. A complicated style that didn't emphasize any special moves, just common techniques used over and over again while keeping the wielder alive. Admitantly, she was wondering where he had gotten those swords, but it was more than possible that she had merely missed them as she had not focused too clearly on the group while they mourned their dead.

"Shirou, are you sure you intend to use that style?" Saber asked with a hint of worry. To the legendary king and master sword wielder, Shirou's style was best described as reckless and more accurately described as 'insane and likely to kill yourself with if it doesn't lead you down Archer's path first.' To Saber's eyes, that sword style was a curse, a doomed path that Shirou was a risk of falling into. Something that Saber wished dearly not to witness. Yes, Shirou had said that he would cling to the ideal even though he knew where it might lead and go on without regrets...

But to seeing how it might turn out did not make it taste any less bitter.

While Lyn gave a querying look at Saber, Shirou could only give a small shrug and a slight smile. "It's mine Saber." Was all he said. Archer had used that style in life and death, that insane/suicidal sword style. Yet, it was Emiya Shirou, before he became Archer in another time in another place, who had created that dance of blades to fight beyond his abilities and become something more than just a man. It allowed the man that became Archer to stand against the greatest evils of the world and triumph countless times. It was insane, suicidal, but at the same time it was the best chance for Shirou to survive whatever may come.

In the end, Saber could only give a small sigh and nod. It was not for her to say how Shirou would wield his blades. Even from the first day she had sparred with him, Saber had realized that Shirou was imitating Archer with improved results each subsequent spar. Each time she had faced Shirou, he had grown radically better with his blade work. He still had a long way to go, and certainly was not her equal, but at least Shirou was able to hold his own for some time.

"Ano," Lyn pipped in, "Do you think you might be able to spar with me?" Lyn had to know, she had to find out how her skills matched this man's. Her question, however was met with one in turn.

"Me?" Shirou asked a bit confused, "Are you sure?"

"Yes." Lyn replied. If she was going to deal with those who took her family, she needed to fully grasp her strengths and weaknesses. One of the best ways was to face opponents who had never faced her before and wielded different sword styles.

"Ah, well... sure. Um Saber, would you be willing to referee?" Shirou asked.

"Of course," Saber replied.

When Lyn stood before him, a practice sword in her own hand, he bowed to her. "Let us have a bood match." Lyn found herself bowing and repeating the phrase. Both went into their preferred stances and waited.

"Begin." Saber announced.

Lyn immediately swung her sword as fast as she could. Her opponent had left himself open on the side. An easy point... or so she thought. Instead, her attack was met with one blade while the other raced towards her neck. Lyn pulled back from the attack just barely enough to prevent her neck from being bruised and then had to immediately block a second attack coming right for her chest. Whirling on the spot, Lyn attempted to hit Shirou on his open side. Again it was met with one blade and countered with the other. This time, it did nail her on her ribs causing Lyn to lose her breath for a moment.

"Stop." Saber suddenly called out.

"I can continue." Lyn called back. Yes, it was a hit, yes it would have been a fatal wound if it was a real blade but that didn't mean they had to stop.

"No, listen." Saber shook her head and pointed off to the horizon. Lyn's eyes widened substantially as she listened to the sound of coarse bragging and language, something that the nomads of the area abstained from.

"BANDITS!" Lyn cried out as she rushed back to the side of her tent to grab her blade. "They're planning on attacking the nomads in the area."

"It appears that they'll be here first." Saber remarked as she saw numerous shapes moving in the area. Her inhuman vision, though not on the level of Archer, could make out over a dozen armed individuals heading towards them. Internally, the King of Knight regretted that she was so reduced. At the height of the Grail War, Saber could have easily dispatched the dozen men with one or two swipes of her sword, ending any battles in an instant. But still, Arturia Pendragon was a goddess with the blade, and she would not allow some barbarian scum harming those she swore to protect.

"Stay here." Saber spoke coldly as she marched forward.

"Wait! What are you doing?!" Lyn cried seeing what looked like an unarmed warrior heading towards the distance. "Without a sword they'll kill you!"

"I will be fine." Saber responded confidently waving what appeared to be an empty fist. "Stay here." Her tone booked no argument.

Worried, Lyn turned to Shirou in an attempt to beg him to stop Saber from throwing her life away. Instead of worry, however, there was but a small hint of sadness in his eyes.

"She'll be fine." Shirou spoke up, "She's in no danger. They are." Lyn turned back to see that the blond woman in blue had gone to meet the bandits halfway to the camp. She stood there as they jeered at her, made lewd comments and gestures and endured their taunts with stoic silence. Then Saber spoke, demanding they leave or suffer the consequences. One man laughed and tried to place his hands upon Saber.

His hands hit the ground in less time than it took to take a breath, separate from the rest of his body. A trickle of blood feel down the air, outlining a blade for but a moment before the fluid was deftly removed. For a moment, it was as if time itself had frozen, the bandits gaped at the wounds inflicted without hesitation, the small splatter of blood on Saber's face, the small jets of blood coming from the man's arms. For a moment, Lyn felt her heart stop as she saw the winds blur in a sword like shape in Saber's hand. Then, Saber was upon them, like a lion before sheep, a dragon amongst mere mortals.

As Lyn watched the one sided battle in the distance with wide eyes she couldn't help but notice Saber's weapon. A blade of winds, a gift of the spirits themselves, and not just any spirits, but one of the Four Great Winds granting wrathful fury upon the small blond woman's foes. There were tales, long before the Dragons' Scouring of blessed ones who wielded the gifts of the spirits, beings who were said to be unmatched by any opponent no matter the numbers. It appeared as though Saber had leaped from those ancient fire-side tales to stand before Shirou and Lyn, displaying power and swordsmanship beyond anything the girl from the plains had ever witnessed. Before the small woman's might, the bandits were falling like drops of rain in a storm. The bandits screamed and cried even as they died.

Such a symphony of agony was in the air that Shirou missed the sound of hooves coming towards him. Lyn, however, did not. Dashing forward, Lyn drew her blade for the first time that day. As she prepared to attack the lone bandit that had gone around Saber using the lone beast, Lyn dreamed of the day where she could fight even half as well Saber could. To fight even half as well would surely guarantee her the ability to avenger her dead clan. As Lyn cut down the horse forcing the enemy bandit to leap from the steed least he be crushed by his animal, Lyn knew what path she was to take.

If only she focused just a little more on the present enemy in front of her rather than the future.

Lyn suddenly found not only her thoughts, but her very breath halted as she blocked a swing of an ax from her opponent that was so powerful it slammed her to the ground. Brandishing a large metal ax the bandit cried out "I am Batta the Beast! Make peace with your heathen gods, savage Bwahahaha!" He cried out with an evil grin

As the bandit laughed, his body shifted to give a certain person an unblocked view of Batta's face, a face drunk on blood and coated with greed.

In that moment Emiya Shirou reacted. Whether it was by his ideal, by his broken mentality, or by the Resonance from Archer would be impossible by anyone. As Batta brought his ax up and prepared the deathblow, a black bow appeared in Shirou's left hand and a single arrow appeared in his right.

_Kyudo_, the Way of the Bow, Shirou had found a natural affinity with both the philosophical view of archery as well as an unnatural talent with the bow. Simply put, Shirou never missed, ever. Even when he 'missed' back at the archery range at school, such an event had only occurred because he had chosen for the arrow to fly into that location. There was a reason why, though he was a sword user, his potential future self had been summoned as the Epic Spirit of the Bow.

_Ashibumi_

They say the road to Hell is paved with good intentions

_Dozukiri_

That every journey begins with a single step.

_Yugamae_

'A hero cannot save everyone' Kitisugu had warned Shirou. When two people hold knives to each other's throat, to save one life, another must die. For Emiya Shirou, what was about to occur should have been something to waver about. Here, right now, he was about to take a life of a Human for the first time. Before this moment, the only one that Shirou had killed was Gilgamesh, and that hadn't really stuck as the stubborn King had pulled himself from the abyss until Archer had sent a sword into Gilgamesh's head.

Right here, right now, Shirou was going to cross a line he had never crossed before. A line that Shirou had sworn that he would not cross in his youth, a line that Archer had long since crossed. Yet, Shirou had no thought about what he was about to do, what it might cost him or lead him to. Instead, he silently and almost mindlessly went through each step of Kyudo with perfection.

_Hikiwake_

Standing over the final dead bandit of the group she had attacked, Saber watched what was sure to be a fatal blow to Lyn with wide eyes. Had she been at full strength, had she not been reduced to the strength of a mere familiar, Saber could have easily saved Lyn. Instead, Saber knew that she would be unable to help. Yet, her incredible Instinct told her that it would be all right. A quick glance at Shirou turned into Saber's complete focus as she saw him prepare to fire.

_Kai_

Unaware of the arrow aimed at him, Batta roared a battle cry "DIIIIEEEE" as unimaginative as any uneducated bandit in the world. In the mind of the bandit, there was a thrill running up his spine he mistakenly believed to be euphoria for killing when it was really his dormant instincts trying to warn him.

_Hanare_

Lyn quietly spoke a small apology meant for both her dead family who she had been unable to avenge as well as Shirou and the others who she had thought of protecting. "I'm sorry." A Sacaen was supposed to keep their word once given and Lyn had given her word she would help them get to Bulgar. Now, she would be unable to aide them and break her word. It may seem trivial to some, but any Sacaen would feel regret and shame for breaking even the smallest of promises. At the same time, Lyn could only think back to both Shirou and Saber's ability with a blade and feel naught but envy at how powerful they seemed compared to her. As Lyn looked up at the ax just starting to fall, she prepared to meet her family once more.

_Zanshin_

The arrow flies straight and true, speeding across the plains at breath-taking speed. In a flash the arrow imbeds itself perfectly into place with a dull 'thud' noise. The ax, once beginning to move towards' Lyn under the guidance of greedy hands halts for but a moment before following the natural flow of gravity and falls to the ground harmlessly. Limp limbs collapse and a pierced head dully hits the ground. Batta the self-proclaimed 'Beast' is dead from an arrow through the eye to the back of the skull.

Lyn could only lay there, blinking as she viewed the sudden removal of the thing that had blocked her view of the sky. Slowly, she lowered her gaze to the ground and looked at the corpse with numb eyes and emotions. She was alive, she was actually alive. She should be laughing, she should be crying for joy, instead, she was in shock. Slowly, she followed the course of the arrow to the origin and gazed upon the face of Emiya Shirou. His expression was a mystery to her, neither regret nor rage, neither happiness or sadness, the face on her savior was blank, as though he felt nothing for what he had done.

Somehow that chilled her just gazing upon his face as he lowered the bow. Yet, for that one moment that chilled her, it passed as she saw him close his eyes and smile. That appearance of uncaring, unfeeling from the red head vanished as she could literally feel the satisfaction emanate from Shirou making him look far more human to Lyn than he had but a mere moment ago.

"Are you alright?" Shirou asked her as he walked towards the girl.

"Y-Yes," Lyn stammered nervously as she stood up. "Thank you very much for the assistance."

"I couldn't just let him kill you." Shirou replied unaware of the power that cliché line held at times.

"That was reckless of you Lyn." Saber admonished, as she joined up with the two of them. "You nearly got yourself killed out there." An aura of disapproval ebbed from Saber, its power growing by proximity.

"Y-yes," Lyn nodded, "That was foolish of me. I should have focused better."

"Indeed." Saber replied, placing a hand on her side and giving a look much like a teacher staring at a student that had just done something incredibly stupid. Which, considering Saber's level of swordsmanship to Lyn's, was completely accurate.

Before anything further could go on though, out came the last living person in the area walked out of the tent. Rin, looking half dead, and more than a little tired, came out of the tent yawning, "Shirou *yawn* Saber, what happened? Did I miss something?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Having her morning tea did wonders to wake the zombie that Rin be at these early hours of the day. It would have been better if she had her favorite tea available, but the Tohsaka head was willing to let that slight go due to the fact that they were clearly in either a different time period where the names of the continents changed or they were on an entirely different planet that just happened to coincidentally have the same language as their own. World shattering effects aside, Rin was not pleased to find out that she had been so deeply asleep that she had missed a battle going on right outside her tent.

Today, however, she could not blame her sleeping habits for missing out. No, she had another problem that claimed her energy, Saber. To ensure that Saber remained with both Shirou and herself, Rin had to make the legendary King of old her Familiar, binding the legendary spirit to herself. In doing so, however, Rin was now being constantly drained by Saber's prana needs. Saber's needs were a tremendous load upon Rin, draining her reserves to less than a quarter of her potential. Were it not for her family's crest and her abnormally high amount of magical circuits, Saber would have drained Rin dry and killed her that very night, and that was with Saber reducing her abilities to that of mere humans.

Without the Grail to support Saber, the King of Knights had no hope of remaining in this world at all, however, and since Rin had no idea where the three of them were, there was no choice but to keep Saber around. Not that Rin was against Saber remaining mind you, but it was terribly tiring all the same. In fact, it was a major handicap for Rin's own magecraft. Yet, for this handicap, Rin now had one of the most powerful beings in human history at her side, even if Saber was still a shadow of her true power. Obviously using a Noble Phantasm would obliterate Saber before she could even charge up the weapon, but Saber was still a master swordsman and a genius on the battlefield, never knowing defeat.

Sipping the tea once more Rin rubbed her forehead. "I see, so that's what happened." Sipping her tea again, Rin placed the half empty cup down. "So none of them escaped?"

"None." Saber replied without a sign of vindication or pride. For her, it had been nothing more than another day in her kingdom, bandits were just as much a problem for her as any of the other kingdoms of her time. "However, due to foolishness, we almost lost someone today. That we did not is something to be thankful for." Saber made no indication whether she was referring to herself or Lyn, but the plains dweller slunk down just slightly, taking it as critique aimed at her.

"It's fine isn't it?" Shirou asked. Saber merely glanced at him a minute, refusing to comment on that statement, before focusing back on Rin.

"Rin, I must confess, it was much more difficult than I imagined with my current state." By difficult she meant that Saber had actually begun breaking a sweat in the battle and had to actually work on conserving her abilities to prevent herself from weakening.

Sighing, Rin nodded her head, "As expected, without the Grail to support you, I can only give you so much of my own to try and maintain you." She raised a hand and gave a short wave of dismissively. "It's not like it wasn't expected however. What I would like to know is how much that depleted your reserves."

"Not much," Saber admitted, "I was careful to conserve what I was using at the time."

At this point, Lyn was lost on what they were talking about, but knew they would explain if they felt like they needed to. This was also one of the ways of the plains, though a Sacaen may not lie, there are times when they must not tell the truth either. Still, it sounded like Saber had some sort of problem with long fights, not that Lyn suspected Saber had to be in many of those with such powerful skills with her blade.

"I see," Rin nodded as she began mentally calculating the cost per battle Saber drained from Rin's reserves after the cost of merely supporting her. The result was grim, Saber would only be able to fight a few times in a row at the current level before Rin ran out of Prana.

Glancing over at Shirou, she then began calculating how much Prana she would be able to extract from Shirou to supplement her losses and found that it would actually give her around half her maximum amount of Prana for her own personal use. "We'll need you to keep reserving your power in battle as much as you can." She looked back at Shirou and grimaced a bit, "If possible, not fighting except in the direst of needs."

"But Rin-" Saber began protesting.

"It's fine." Shirou broke in. "I'll help out."

"I will as well," Lyn suddenly spoke up getting surprised looks from everyone.

For a moment there was silence before Saber spoke up, "While I thank you for your efforts this morning, Lyn of the Lorca, please understand that we are not going to remain here, we are in need of returning home." If that was possible at all, that is.

"I understand, however, that was not what I meant." Lyn corrected. She looked straight at Saber and told her tale trying her best not to be overwhelmed by the memories. "Six months ago, the Lorca Tribe was a great and respected clan upon the plains. I lived with my mother and father, my aunts, uncles, my grandmother, my friends my whole tribe. Then, the Taliver Bandits set their eyes upon us. They poisoned our wells, weakened our tribe with the tainted waters and waited. In the middle of the night they attacked." For a moment, she paused, remembering the fires, the screams, and the sickening sound of metal meeting flesh.

"My father, he used the last of his strength to put me on his horse and sent me away even as he fell from his wounds." Lyn pointed to herself. "I am the last of my Tribe. A few survivors may have escaped, but I have heard little any truth in those rumors. As far as I know, I and I alone am all that is left of the Lorca." Her tone, no matter how hard she tried was filled with grief at the loss of her family and friends, her entire tribe gone forever. Still gazing at Saber, Lyn made a painful admission. "I am weak. I must defeat the Taliver, I must destroy them. Unless I do, their spirits will never rest easy, but I lack the strength to destroy those beasts."

She bowed before the mighty blond warrior so low that her head was almost touching the ground. "Please, please take me with you, please teach me how to become stronger. I will do any task you ask of me, but please, teach me how to fight as well as you do. I saw how you destroyed the group of bandits with such ease and know that I have much to progress before I can hope to match your abilities. Please, I beg of you."

In her mind, Saber mulled over the pros and cons of taking Lyn. The girl was an outsider, one that Saber and the others would have to watch their words. Lyn was not one of them, did not (to their knowledge) know about magic, Epic Spirits, or the Grail War. If they let the girl stay with them, the three of them would have to remember to keep many things cryptic or not mentioned at all. Yet, Lyn knew the area, knew the land, and Saber wasn't in the best condition at the moment, and might never be at her best. In the end, there was only one thing that Saber could do. "I understand. Prepare yourself, I shall not go easy on you."

"Thank you." Lyn said raising her head to reveal that she had been silently crying whilst her head had been lowered. "You will not regret this."

"Wait, are you really going to do this?" Rin asked with a slight raise of her eyebrow.

"She knows the land." Saber pointed out. "Without her, we will easily become lost."

Sighing once more, Rin nodded, conceding the point to Saber. This was going to be difficult, but Saber was right, they still needed Lyn for now.

"We're glad to have you with us." Shirou spoke up bowing his head to Lyn who bowed back respectfully.

Well, since the three of them would now be four, Rin decided it was time to move onto the next objective. "Lyn," Rin spoke to their new companion, "Where would we need to go if we needed to find a large gathering of lore on ancient mysteries?"

"Well," Lyn thought about the strange wording and considered what her parents had told her about the world. "Bulgar is the capital of Sacae, and since it is five days ride from here, it would be best if we headed there first. However, I doubt that there will be much in Bulgar. Sacaens rarely write, we usually rely on the teachings from the elders." Scratching her head, she offered what she knew. "Ilia to the north is more known for its mercenary forces, but some of their scholars are quite renowned. Bern to the south is more known for its military." A shadow of a memory passed through her mind as she kept thinking. "Oh, Etruria is supposed to be where the most mages train. They have a General who is a mage I think."

"Wait," Rin broke in. "Mages?" As in people who cast spells, as in Lyn knew about them with certainty that they existed?!

"Yes, like Shirou." Lyn replied pointing to the red head getting three sets of round eyes. Just as Shirou began to splutter, trying to deny what he was, another beat him to the punch.

"...How did you know Shirou is a mage?" Rin demanded. She would have already begun a spell to hypnotize Lyn, except apparently mages were known in this world. So she'd hold off on it... for now.

"Because Shirou suddenly had a bow and arrow when I know he didn't have one this morning and I didn't either." Lyn replied. Actually, now that she thought about it, those training swords hadn't been here either.

"Ah, I see." Rin groaned before giving Shirou a good hit on the head. Sighing, Rin nodded, "So Magic is a known feature?" Rin asked, "Where we come from, all magic users keep their abilities a secret."

"Ah," Lyn nodded. "I see."

Sighing once again, Rin considered what Lyn had told them and came to her conclusion. She looked over at Saber who gave the faintest of nods, the legendary Hero already deducing exactly where they wanted to go. "Etruria is probably the most promising lead we have." Looking Lyn right in the eye, she asked, "Are you sure you wish to come with us?"

"Yes," Lyn nodded, "I am not concerned about the distance."

"I see," Rin replied, "Then it's settled."

"The day is still young." Saber pointed out. "We should try to put some distance between us and the dead."

As they made preparations to pack the camp and leave for Bulgar, a messenger from a certain country was spreading offers of gold for the head of a certain girl and two knight rode towards the capital of Sacae intending to find their lord's granddaughter. A girl on a pegasus made her way towards Sacae to see if her friend still lived while two children with red eyes and light blue hair made their escape.

The Fates of many a man and woman were moving, the ambitions of a False King, a Mad Emperor, and a Dead Apostle were about to clash with forces unlike anything they had ever seen. It would be a grand adventure, a tale to be sung by bards and re-imagined by countless authors for thousands of years. And the next chapter in this tale would begin with one of the two knights mentioned earlier making at a pass at Lyn.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Author's Notes:

Well, there it is. My first chapter on my second serious series. Black Knight is nothing more than a collection of snippets I posted on a forum for easy reading at the request of a few people so I don;t expect anyone to ever take it seriously or even care. Though, I do admit I should go back and edit the Shina Dark section and repost it as a real series and continue it. Something to do later I guess, the first chapter being thirty pages will take a bit of work to re-edit.

Anyways, I had this idea bouncing in my head for months and figured might as well give it a shot. I'll admit freely that this chapter is still a bit rough, even with Third Fang as my beta. Some of the implementation could have gone better and some hand waving was involved, but since you are down here I assume you could stand my work long even to read this far... unless you're the kind of person that skips to the end for some reason. Updates will be sporadic as I intend to make every chapter at least twenty pages long at a minimum, like actual book chapters. That will make the various missions interesting challenges to work around, but I'll do my best, so please bear with it.

My biggest weakness for my own writing is conversations involving more than three people. Usually, one person gets pushed to the side. I'll try to work on it, but it is a weakness of mine... so please don't bother pointing out how Shirou didn't say much in the last conversation. I am well aware of the fact but have little I could have him say at the moment that Rin or Saber couldn't have done better.

So give me your comments, concerns, requests, fears, likes and dislikes. I will read every review, even if I do not respond to them. However, for those of you who wish to do nothing more than trash my work, just remember one thing, how much did you pay for this again? Nothing, therefor, you get what you pay for.

The last thing I will address is one person's concerns about how I will implement things like weapons triangle and promotion. Simple answer is I intend to mostly ignore them. The weapons triangle was a way for Fire Emblem to include an interesting an unique style to their gameplay, but I fail to see how it could be truly applied in real life. An axe does not have inherent weaknesses to a blade while having strengths against a spear. It's all about who wields it from what I can tell.

Also, promotion frightens me as I recall one of the Fire Emblems talked about how Promotions worked by forming some sort of contract with the world or something. It may have been Radiant Dawn or Path of Radiance, but don't quote me on this. Either way, though Fire Emblem may work differently and mean different things when they mean contract, I still personally see it as though the characters are all selling themselves into Counter Guardians.

Yes, I realize that's ridiculous, but I can't shake that perception. So unless someone can give me clear, concise reasons to implement promotion and give me a system that does not involve signing a contract or merely regard it as some sort of hand waving saying, the knight became a general, I will not discuss or talk about promotion. Sorry.


End file.
